Stove top having a cooking zone and a reduced symbol depiction in the cooking zone in a display unit and method for operating a stove top

Abstract

A stove top includes a stove top plate having at least one area-connected cooking zone for placement of an item of cookware in variable positions. Formed on the stove top plate is a display unit for displaying information about a position of the item of cookware on the cooking zone. The display unit has a first display field in which a plurality of separate display regions are fixedly arranged adjacent to one another, with each display region displaying a reduced symbol depiction of the entire cooking zone. Lighting devices are assigned to the symbol depictions of the display regions, respectively, to illuminate the symbol depictions in at least a plurality of partial areas having different surfaces and/or different surface-areas.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A stove top, comprising:
 a stove top plate having at least one area-connected cooking zone with a plurality of predefined cooking areas for placement of an item of cookware in variable positions; 
 a display unit formed on the stove top plate for displaying information about a position of the item of cookware on the cooking zone, said display unit having a first display field in which a plurality of separate display regions are fixedly arranged adjacent to one another, each said display region displaying a reduced symbol depiction of the cooking zone, and each of the plurality of separate display regions being positionally correlated with a corresponding cooking area; and 
 lighting devices assigned to each of the display regions, the lighting devices configured to illuminate the reduced symbol depictions of the cooking zone in at least a plurality of partial areas, the illuminated plurality of partial areas corresponding to at least one of different surfaces or different surface-areas. 
 
     
     
       2. The stove top of  claim 1 , wherein the symbol depictions are each constructed from a plurality of light sources of the assigned lighting device, said light sources being arranged geometrically according to a surface of the cooking zone. 
     
     
       3. The stove top of  claim 2 , wherein the light sources are arranged in a matrix. 
     
     
       4. The stove top of  claim 2 , wherein the light sources are arranged in at least a 5×5 matrix. 
     
     
       5. The stove top of  claim 1 , wherein the first display field extends over at least 80% of a width of the cooking zone. 
     
     
       6. The stove top of  claim 1 , wherein at least 4 of the symbol depictions are arranged in a row adjacent to one another. 
     
     
       7. The stove top of  claim 6 , wherein the at least 4 of the symbol depictions are arranged in a row equally spaced apart in the row. 
     
     
       8. The stove top of  claim 1 , wherein at least 5 of the symbol depictions are arranged in a row adjacent to one another. 
     
     
       9. The stove top of  claim 8 , wherein the at least 5 of the symbol depictions are arranged in a row equally spaced apart in the row. 
     
     
       10. The stove top of  claim 1 , further comprising value display fields configured adjacent to the symbol depictions, respectively, for displaying a cooking phase. 
     
     
       11. The stove top of  claim 10 , wherein the value display fields are arranged laterally adjacent to the symbol depictions. 
     
     
       12. The stove top of  claim 1 , further comprising a control unit configured, depending on an identification of the at least one item of cookware on the cooking zone, to display optically a partial area of the symbol depiction corresponding to that located on the cooking zone and in terms of size to the at least one item of cookware, by activating the lighting device functionally assigned to the symbol depiction. 
     
     
       13. The stove top of  claim 1 , further comprising a control unit configured to detect an alteration to a position of the one item of cookware on the cooking zone and, depending on a type of alteration to the position, to do at least one of: change a display of the position from one of the symbol depictions to another one of the symbol depictions, or display the alteration to the position in a single one of the symbol depictions. 
     
     
       14. The stove top of  claim 13 , wherein the type of alteration to the position is a direction of the alteration to the position. 
     
     
       15. The stove top of  claim 1 , wherein the display unit has a second display field configured to select a cooking phase of a partial area of the cooking zone occupied by the item of cookware. 
     
     
       16. The stove top of  claim 15 , wherein the second display field is arranged in one of two ways, a first way in which the second display field is arranged as a strip parallel to the first display field, a second way in which the first display field is configured between the second display field and the cooking zone, viewed in a depth direction of the stove top plate. 
     
     
       17. The stove top of  claim 15 , wherein the symbol depictions are arranged in a row, viewed in a depth direction of the stove top plate, said second display field with a smallest selectable cooking phase value being arranged adjacent to a first one of the symbol depictions in the row. 
     
     
       18. The stove top of  claim 15 , wherein the symbol depictions are arranged in a row, viewed in a depth direction of the stove top plate, said second display field with a largest selectable cooking phase value being arranged adjacent to a last one of the symbol depictions in the row. 
     
     
       19. The stove top of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of cooking areas are provided by a plurality of columns, wherein each of the plurality of separate display regions are aligned within a corresponding column. 
     
     
       20. The stove top of  claim 19 , further comprising a control unit configured to activate only the one of the symbol depictions for the optical display where areas occupied in one of the plurality of columns, in comparison with other occupied column areas, are occupied by a largest part of a surface of a base of the item of cookware. 
     
     
       21. The stove top of  claim 19 , wherein each of the plurality of columns is aligned with only one display region. 
     
     
       22. A method for operating a stove top a stove top plate having at least one area-connected cooking zone with a plurality of predefined cooking areas for placement of an item of cookware in variable positions, said method comprising:
 fixedly arranging adjacent to one another a plurality of separate display regions, in a first display field of a display unit, configured on the stove top plate for displaying information about a position of the item of cookware on the cooking zone, wherein each of the plurality of separate display regions are positionally correlated with a corresponding cooking area; 
 enabling a display in each of the display regions of a reduced symbol depiction of the cooking zone; and 
 illuminating each reduced symbol depiction by a lighting device in at least a plurality of partial areas, the illuminated plurality of partial areas corresponding to at least one of different surfaces or different surface-areas. 
 
     
     
       23. The method of  claim 22 , further comprising displaying, depending on an identification of the at least one item of cookware on the cooking zone, optically a partial area of the symbol depiction corresponding to that located on the cooking zone and in terms of size to the at least one item of cookware, by activating the lighting device functionally assigned to the symbol depiction. 
     
     
       24. The method of  claim 22 , further comprising detecting an alteration to a position of an item of cookware on the cooking zone; and, depending on a type of alteration to the position, do at least one of: changing a display of the position from one of the symbol depictions to another one of the symbol depictions, or displaying the alteration to the position in a single one of the symbol depictions. 
     
     
       25. The method of  claim 24 , wherein the type of alteration to the position is a direction of the alteration to the position.